AMES, Iowa — The No. 6 Mississippi State women’s basketball team found itself five minutes away from its first loss — and a big one at that.
The Bulldogs showed their character down the stretch, surviving a tough road environment to stay unbeaten.
Morgan William scored 24 points, Victoria Vivians had 16, and Mississippi State overcame a 17-point deficit to beat Iowa State 85-81 in overtime Saturday.
It was the first time since 2012 MSU rallied to win after trailing by 10 or more at the intermission. The victory also snapped Iowa State’s 96-game non-conference home winning streak.
“That was one heck of a basketball game,” said MSU coach Vic Schaefer, whose team played without senior guard Dominique Dillingham (knee surgery). “You have to take your hat off to Iowa State because they have an outstanding basketball team. They had a week to get ready for us. I have been in here so many times. I knew what was coming. In the first half, they really took it to us.
“In the second half, our post players were great. We did a lot better job of defending them in the second half. We were still down 11 with five to play. In the fourth quarter, we executed defensively. I hang my hat on defense, and we were not very good out there until the end. Give credit to Iowa State.”
Roshunda Johnson’s 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter forced overtime for the Bulldogs (8-0), who trailed by 11 with 4 minutes, 49 seconds left. Johnson started in place of Dillingham and had 15 points.
“We still have work to do,” William said. “We came out flat, but most important was (that) we fought through adversity.”
MSU controlled the overtime, but it took four free throws by William with the final 15 seconds to seal the win.
William hit a 3-pointer with 36 seconds left in regulation before Johnson tied the game with a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left.
“Ro was built for that moment,” Schaefer said. “Great players are built for that moment. She wanted the shot. Morgan gave her a great pass. We had fought so hard to be in that position. In the overtime, I felt like we were in good shape. When you have been up for so long in a game and then it is tied, it is hard to get that momentum back.”
In the overtime, MSU took the lead for good on a basket by Chinwe Okorie with 3:43 left. Okorie had 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Breanna Richardson added 10 points, while William had five assists.
Iowa State (5-1) played like the favorites for much of regulation, outscoring MSU 28-13 in the second quarter to go up 43-26 at halftime.
Seanna Johnson had 21 points with eight rebounds for Iowa State. Jadda Buckley added 19 points and 11 assists. The Cyclones were 10 of 15 from 3-point range, but they also had 18 turnovers.
“I’m not upset with anyone. I know they played as hard as they could,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. “We ran out of gas down the stretch.”
This was the fourth game of a stretch of eight-consecutive games away from Starkville for MSU. The Bulldogs didn’t look like a program that has gone 35-8 since the start of last season until the final 15 minutes.
“We looked like we still had one foot left stuck in Hawaii,” Schaefer said, referencing his team’s trip last week to the Rainbow Wahine Showdown in Honolulu that included victories against Oregon, San Jose State, and Hawaii on consecutive days.
Iowa State nearly handed MSU its first loss by moving the ball to create open shots. It overcame its lack of size by attacking the defensive glass and making the most of its forced turnovers.
Buckley drilled 3-pointers from the left elbow to back-to-back possessions to put the Cyclones ahead 39-22, and Bridget Carleton added another 3-pointer with 6:34 left that put Iowa State on top 64-53. All three seemed to bury the Bulldogs. But they shot 77 percent in the fourth quarter, and Seanna Johnson’s missed free throw with 21 seconds left kept the deficit at three points.
“That whole first half, they just stuck it down our throat and made us like it,” Schaefer said
Mississippi State will play next Saturday at Southern Miss.
Special reports were included in this story.
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